Hi Herman. I think it's coming along wonderfully. All about the shimpakus now since I managed to get some. Is it tough to get good stock in South Africa? You have some nice trees and was just wondering.

Hi Herman. I think it's coming along wonderfully. All about the shimpakus now since I managed to get some. Is it tough to get good stock in South Africa? You have some nice trees and was just wondering.

Hi M.Frary

First off, Thanks for the compliment dude

we have no shortage of indigenous material, even if the bonsai nurseries sells sticks in pots of them at ridiculous prices, I am able to cross the road and go collecting seed in the bush(most grow ridiculously fast like 6+ inch trunks in 10 years) with exotics its another story...we've got the deciduous but we seem severely lacking in coniferous exotic materials... especially good quality pines and junipers, what you get is prob going to take a long time to get into shape, it was pure luck that i came to buy the tree in this thread(even though its nice material and not head turning jaw dropping material)...the rest I'm working on long term...very long term.

yes shimpaku's are AWESOME!! I simply love the tight foliage! I'm used to working on J. Virginiana "Grey Owl", J. X Media, J. Chinensis, J. Precumbens Nana and J. Scopulorum "Skyrocket"... so my next step is to graft a few selected junipers with some shimpaku foliage

it's a male shimpaku though, I'm still looking for a female one. It looks silly when this tree flowers....looks like the ends of the foliage is turning to popcorn...

HAHA I'll do a thread once it buds out, if I'm allowed to lol, it's my better half's oak, I have one too. strange trees these common european oaks, I like the evergreen oaks way more!! my Fav being Suber prob due to their robust nature and awesome bark!!

Just learned something new. I didn't know there were male and female junipers. Females have the berries right? If so I have a girl? The other two I have must be prepubescent. No flowers or berries yet. I've been working on parsons and procumbens. I like them. But from now on I'm after shimpaku. I have never grafted anything but everything that comes off of my shimpakus will be used as a cutting or air layered off. They are kind of expensive. Keep us posted please Herman

Those are the his and her oaks. I have seen them. I think it was them.

Any J. Virginia pics?

That is what my rooted cuttings are of, I believe. Love to see what you have done with them.

Sorce

Actually you and every one else and whoever else they say they got their information from are wrong. Shimpakus are a sub-species of Sargents Juniper which is a sub species of Chines Juniper along with the Phitzers, Hollywood, and almost any Juniper you can think of are all Dioecious meaning that they have both male and female reproductive parts. Michael A Dirr's Book Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Says so. I know that this misinformation has been floating around the INTERNET for years and I just finally got fed up with tolerating misinformation. But you can see how some really good people can be deceived by accepting information that they do not confirm. I will allow one possible exception: Understanding that it is highly improbable that your Shimpaku is a Yamadori it is likely the product of a cutting. If the cutting was taken from a scion that had male flowers on it the possibility is there that the tree may only produce male parts. However I think this is unlikely. I have a lot of Shimpakus, or at least I used to have them, I have noticed both parts on the same trees.

Vance, I checked Dirr and yes the vast majority of Junipers are Dioecious, with some individuals being monoecious ( typically a small percentage). Where the problem lies is in your translation of dioecious, where you state dioecious means both sexes on same plant. Actually, monoecious means, one house, both sexes reside in same individual and dioecious means, two houses, where the sexes are separate and distinct. Quoting Dirr's definition of dioecious (5th Edition, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Glossary page 1132): "Dioecious: having unisexual fls.,each sex confined to a separate plant, said of species."

So those who state they have male or female Junipers are most likely stating the truth. For example, with California Junipers only about 2% are thought to be monoecious, haven't seen one yet in Bonsai.

Vance, some percentage of junipers have both sexes on the same plant. Typically, these are small proportions of the population, a few percent. I don't know if you do cuttings or gound layers on a branch with one gender type if the new plant will show both sexes on the new plant or not, but I think it should. The California Juniper number is about 2% of all plants appear to be monoecious, one could expect other species of junipers to be similar.

One note, the definitions of Dioecious and Monoecious are absolutely correct, as is the general rule that Juniper species dioecious.

As with most rules, there are exceptions. It appears, according to at least one reference, that Juniperus osteospermum (Utah Juniper) that being monoecious is the norm. I have requested the reference and will share what it says.